I have been waxing for about 4 years now , I use an Ultrasonic Cleaner , and then wax it with Parafin wax mixed with tifllon.. Yes it takes me more than 30 mins to do it ,and after 100 km I top it up with any wax drip lube this makes it , the wax that wax immersed bitween the pivots almost stays intact... and thus I don't have to re wax the chain again till 6 months. Note :Cleaning the chain with cold water also keeps the chain cleaner and avoids melting the wax bitween the pivots.

Alex, you suggest to clean with the grunge method every 400ks but this means without wax right?

@@iischia no with wax! degrease, clean, wax = 15mins

What teflon size (in the microns) and ratio to parrafin do you use?

I agree 100%. I don't understand why this "grunge" method is using degreaser and solvents. There's no grease or anything to "dissolve" on my previously waxed chain. A mild detergent with the ultrasonic cleaner (heated to 50C) seems to remove the dirt quite well. I do two ultrasonic passes and "shaker jar" the chain a few times before the second pass. The second pass isn't really needed but I use the clarity of the mild soapy water as evidence that the chain really did get clean. The for time, my process can take many hours start to finish. But the time that I personally spend on it is only 5 -10 minutes. I spend time: 1) Start crock pot heating up wax. 2) Start heating up water and jar with water and mild detergent in the ultrasonic cleaner. 3) Remove chain and put it in a the jar. This takes 2-3 minutes at most. I go do something else as things are heating up. 4) Turn on ultrasonic cleaner when temp is up to 50C. The temp is important to melt the wax. Run for 20-30 minutes. This takes seconds to push the buttons. I then go do something else. 5) Discard dirty water in jar. Rinse and shake the jar with plain water a couple times until there are no bubbles. Optional for the OCD folks, put in new soapy water and run ultrasonic again for 20-30 minutes. Solution shouldn't get very dirty. Again, this takes a couple of minutes. 6) Dump soapy water and rinse/shake chain in jar until there are no more bubbles. Hang chain up and dry with towel. Let air dry. If you are in a rush and want to spend the time, use a blow drier or heat gun to speed up the drying process. 7) Your wax should be well melted by now. Stir wax if you have Teflon or other additives in it. Drop chain in. Let it soak while you watch TV, have a snack or do whatever. 8) Remove chain. Hang it up and wipe it down with paper towels while still hot. This process takes very little of my personal time. The devices spend time doing the work. I just tend to them now and then. I have three chains for my main bike so that I always have either one or two chains ready to go. I just replace the chain (In minutes - no mess) with a freshly waxed one if I hear my chain making any noise on a ride. I probably ride 300-400 miles a month and the chain seems to last about a month before it needs changing. I live in a dry area with almost no rain/water to deal with.

late answer, but there is liquid chain wax that you can take on the 300km+ rides if you don´t want to take another chain. :) And imho it is cost effective after a year of doing it, my chains/cassettes last about 5 times as long with wax. I have done 15.000km with wax now and can confirm. Wax 2-3 chains at once and cycle them, saves a lot of time...if you are not already doing that with those multiple bikes.

That's my answer too. I have a crock-pot for the wax off of Amazon. Leave it full, wipe the chains, dip them, done. I do recommend a crock-pot with a low setting. I had a single-temp cooker that boiled the wax (pot wasn't even close to full).

Same diy here, without the PTFE, only wax and lampoil. Use drip on wax sometimes if in a hurry. Works fine for years already and no dirty hands or oil smearing in the car anymore.

welcome to the club ;)

same here, is really the cheapest

However look what has happened to the price of Ptfe powder..... Nearly as expensive as a certain other white powder LOL

Same. Love that guy!

me too!

It's a myth that waxed chains don't get dirty. They still collect dirt and black grimy stuff. Not as messy as wet lubes but can still mark your lightly colored pants or the back seat of your car. The video by oz cycle shows him touching the chain and no grime coming off it. My experience is not that squeaky clean. Also, if you are indoors, the wax still makes a mess of your carpet. Again, don't believe all the hype without critically thinking about it and give it a shot yourself.

I started this year, 5 chains in rotation. So easy once you do your first initial clean. I like it so much I’ve done my kids and wife’s bikes. No more oil on my clothes. So much better all round. Follow the OZ cycle vid and mix with Teflon. I’ve managed to pass this on to many other club members. Believe the hype!

@@garethtupling2481 5 chains! yeah, then its definitely worth the hassle. For me, the initial cleaning process was kind of a turn off, had to spend few days making sure i stripped off all the factory grease off the chains. Now, I have all these chemical discard just sitting in my tiny apartment. No way to safely discard bcoz of covid situation. :(

@@nirajshr Yes. Waxed chains still get dirty. But the mess and marks they leave are far less messy than the typical lubed chain. I'd be concerned about rubbing anything dirty (including the bike) on car upholstery, but I'd bet a mark from a waxed chain on upholstery or clothes would clean up pretty easily given there is no grease/oil involved. It's just dirt and paraffin. Brush it off. All bets are off if you have moly in your wax. I replaced my chain today, taking it off with my hands. All I had to do was wipe my hands against each other to brush off the bit of dirt I picked up by handling the chain.

This. Chains last 3x longer than the cassette on average, so rotating 3 means everything wears out perfectly together. I’ve been doing it for years now and it does save time/components

Sorry, I meant the other way round - cassettes last 3x longer 👍

Snap.

I love this idea!

😂 .....tbh if you have to do it once per month, then 15mins is enough for me even if there is another 1w of gains untapped

You got your method down James!

Check the calculator for the actual time savings

Since watching this, I had to try the AB product, so I have ordered the smaller bottles. Lets see how these fair. (They are not cheap)

Yep. I'm not sure I agree with letting the chain cool down in the wax and removing just before 50C. There's no way the wax drips substantially off even a quite hot chain - which is why I also wipe it down right after removing it from the wax.

Eight chains! That's got to be a record!!

I suggest getting a used crock pot dedicated to chain wax. Yard sales or thrift shops are a good place to get them. I remove the chain hot and wipe it down with a folded over paper towel. That makes it a bit less stiff. I also roll the chain up after waxing. So that loosens it up a bit for when I eventually install it on the bike.

So organized! Impressive!!

Yep. I think the reality is that most people who use conventional lubes are inclined to just add more lube and to not do a good job cleaning their chains. If that weren't true, then these chains would be just leaving mostly oily marks on hands and clothes and not really black marks. Its just easy to squirt on some lube and do a quick wipe down with a rag. Everything quickly works better, but the dirt remains where it grinds down your chain and gears.

Thanks for your honest feedback. Sure waxing the chain is not for everyone, and does take a bit of time AND indoors would be especially messy because bits of wax fly off the chain for the first 1k after waxing.....so I was riding mainly indoors I don't think I would be waxing either!

yes, well spotted, I tried the rotor q-ring and o-symmetric and pyramid designs but the fibrelyte is light. However I have a quarq to fit and not sure if it will be compatible.

What quick link do you use?

Hi, I just drew you as runner up, cannot promise the graphene but get in touch for a runner up prize!

Haha I have a powertap too, don't use it much anymore, but always loved it as a training wheel because it gave power+cadence+speed on the dumb trainer. Waxing your chain for zwift watts is hilarious but hey why not!

Yes. I go with three so I can pick a time to re-wax more at my convenience. I tend to put things off and having two spares ready to go means I'll actually change the chain when it makes a bit of noise.

Thanks for the kind feedback! In your case keeping a set of wax chains (at least two but three is best) is likely the way to go because the workload to do two is not so much more than one. Plus it's good for the cassette to rotate the chain. Regarding the video production line I needed s break and had covid twice and have done a lot of coaching instead but still doing blogs at cyclingapps.net. #happytraining

@@Fastfitnesstips Thanks so much, Alex! I think I probably need to order a new chain or two. I broke out a new chain today and I'm waxing it too as my current chain will be pushing 0.5% before too long. So sorry to hear about covid, twice! Dang! Sure hope you are making a full recovery. I'll be looking forward to more excellent video productions soon.

The thing is, oil based lube is probably as fast as the waxxed one. But after one ride the oil will attract a lot of dirt and lose the efficiency while the waxxed one won't get that dirty.

I started waxing when cycle commuting on my e-bike. I was putting over 5000 miles/year on the e-bike and just disliked the messy chain when dealing with rear flats or any other roadside issue that put me at or near the chain. The performance benefit is not a big draw for me. Although the promise of longer chain and drivetrain life is.

How do you find the chains run in terms of noise. I was finding after 20-30 miles the chain got noticeably noiser, and I ended up with congealed black wax around jockey wheels and chainrings. If I use less squirt lube the noise is worse. (SRAM red groupset)

Great testing! thank you for this valuable feedback

Just saw the ultrasonic cleaner. Have the same one.